When to plant tomatoes in Erfurt: 15 May – 18 July

In Erfurt, tomato: sow for seedlings from 3 March to 27 May; plant into a greenhouse from 24 April to 18 July; plant out into open ground from 15 May to 18 July. For plants and seeds, the places nearby include Dehner (garden centre, 2 km) and Gartencenter Zimmermann (garden centre, 2 km); addresses and opening hours are below.

Tomato in Erfurt: soil, season and weather

In Erfurt the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 23 April, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 15 °C — the minimum on the tomato card — only around 15 May, 22 days later.

Last spring frost	23 April
Top 7 cm of soil at 15 °C	15 May, 22 days after the last frost
Into an unheated greenhouse	24 April – 18 July; April outside: 3.7 °C at night, 14 °C by day; card 16–27 °C
First autumn frost	7 November, 176 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	70
First harvest, if planted in this window	24 July – 26 September
Days left for picking	106
Daylight	12:24 on 24 March, 15:31 on 15 May
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 3 days; the driest month, November, has 10 rainy days

Tomato in Erfurt: care after planting

Planted on 15 May: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

Feeding, by the card’s schedule from that day:

15 May — feed: balanced (NPK)
12 June — feed: nitrogen

Pests and diseases of tomato to watch for:

Dates count from the first planting day of the window above; a later planting moves them by as many days.

Weather in Erfurt during the tomato season

No month of the season averages above the tomato card's 16–27 °C by day; the warmest, August, averages 24.7 °C. Months that stay below 16 °C even by day on average: October (15 °C) and November (8.3 °C). Nights average below 16 °C in every month of the season, from 2.5 °C to 14.1 °C.

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
May	18.2	8	63	11	15:31
June	23.5	12.9	61	11	16:31
July	24.4	14.1	61	11	16:07
August	24.7	14.1	63	11	14:36
September	20.5	10.7	53	8	12:42
October	15	7.5	58	13	10:47
November	8.3	2.5	41	10	8:58

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Tomato in nearby cities

Around Erfurt, Frankfurt is 4 days earlier and Dresden 10 days later.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Leipzig	102 km	15 May – 28 July	same day
Magdeburg	134 km	14 May – 29 July	1 day earlier
Nuremberg	170 km	14 May – 14 July	1 day earlier
Hanover	179 km	15 May – 1 August	same day
Dresden	190 km	25 May – 29 July	10 days later
Frankfurt	192 km	11 May – 28 July	4 days earlier

Where to buy tomato plants and seeds near Erfurt

Buy plants ready to set out from 15 May to 18 July (from 24 April to 18 July for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 3 March to 27 May. Within 15 km of Erfurt OpenStreetMap lists 9 garden centres, 2 farm-supply shops, 6 plant nurseries, 3 markets and 15 farm shops (collected 28 October 2026).

Gartenmarkt Hartl — garden centre
Alkerslebener Straße 2, 99334 Elxleben · Mon–Fri 08:30–18:00; Sat 08:30–14:00 · 13 km · gmhartl.de
Dehner — garden centre
Weimarische Straße 39a, 99099 Erfurt · Mon–Sat 09:00–19:00 · 2 km · dehner.de
Kakteen-Haage — garden centre
Blumenstraße 68, 99092 Erfurt · Mon–Fri 08:00–18:00; Sat 10:00–15:00; Sun, public holidays closed · 2 km · kakteen-haage.de
Gartencenter Zimmermann — garden centre
Leipziger Straße 75b, 99085 Erfurt · 2 km · gartencenter-erfurt.de

Each window starts on the Greenly calendar date and ends on the last day that still leaves the crop’s days to harvest (from its card) before the average first autumn frost, plus six weeks of picking for crops harvested over weeks (tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, cucumbers, courgettes, pumpkins, watermelons, beans) — our rule; earlier in the window is safer.

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